The invention relates generally to slides for mounting drawers or the like in cabinets or other furniture and is more particularly addressed to slides of the side-mount variety.
Side-mount slides generally include a drawer unit or member that is mounted on a side of a drawer and an associated cabinet unit or member that is mounted on the inner face of the cabinet side wall or frame. A pair of associated drawer and cabinet members is mounted at each side of the respective drawer and cabinet, and the associated members engage one another so as to support and guide the drawer as it is pulled out of the cabinet.
To assist in making the drawer more easily, each drawer and cabinet unit may include a track and a wheel rotatably mounted at one end of the track. Associated drawer and cabinet units are configured such that the wheel of the drawer unit rolls in the track of the frame unit, and the wheel on the frame unit rolls in the track of the drawer unit. Each track may also be provided with configurations of lips or ledges to capture and guide the wheel rolling therein and to assist in preventing the slide members from pulling apart from one another. As the drawer is opened, one of the units telescopes out from the other, allowing the drawer to glide open in a smooth manner. A slide typical of the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,248 to Grass entitled "Pull-Out Guide for Drawers" and in U.S. Pat. No. 2,328,835 to Motter entitled "Drawer Construction."
A problem common to prior art slides is the requirement for close tolerance in the construction of the drawer and cabinet frame. Unless the drawer and cabinet frame are constructed with sides parallel to each other within a tolerance of approximately 1/8 inch, the drawer will have a strong tendency to bind as it is moved in and out. When known slides are used on a cabinet lacking the requisite degree of parallelism, the cabinetmaker has to resort to shims or the like to correct the deficiency. Shims are commonly inserted between a cabinet members and the cabinet, either at the front or rear, to compensate for the lack of parallelism. To the cabinetmaker, the use of shims is undersirable because it requires significant additional time and effort.
Even well made furniture may vary in its dimensions, parallelism, straightness, and so forth over time due to the effects of use, abuse, and environment on the wood components in the drawers or frames. Known slides may function well initially but may tend to blind as the furniture ages and becomes slightly skewed. On the other hand, inexpensively made furniture is often manufactured with very loose tolerances and at the onset presents a problem to the slide installer. Likewise, do-it-yourself cabinetmakers often have difficulty constructing furniture with the requisite degree of parallelism to mount drawers using the conventional slides without resorting to corrective shims.